Flipping houses can be a risky business. Learn how one flipper potentially saved thousands with this quick trick to cover a ceiling crack in his investment property.
A crack in the ceiling often indicates the foundations of the house are shifting.
Flipping houses is the art of buying a property, investing money in fixing it up, and then selling it for (hopefully) a profit. It’s the staple of countless HGTV shows, and the frustrated dream of many would-be real estate moguls.
But since the housing market crashed in 2008, flipping houses has been riskier than ever – and while house prices have recovered somewhat, the margins for making a profit are slimmer than ever.
That’s why first-time flipper Tim Meadows, from Green Bay, Wisconsin, was horrified to walk into the new investment property he and his wife had just purchased – and found a huge crack in the ceiling!
"What was really upsetting was that it simply wasn’t there when we bought the property," Tim explains. "They'd freshly plastered the ceiling, and it looks smooth and pristine."
But a quick examination by their contractor revealed the source of the problem.
Covering the crack with one of our Faux Beams helped hide the crack, and blend the ceiling seamlessly together.
"Because it was a fairly new house, right next to another new development, the entire property was shifting,” Tim explained. “Structurally it was sound; but it would take months or even a couple of years for everything to settle into place. The crack on the ceiling was where one half of the house pulled away from the other; and the contractor told us that even if we replaced the drywall, there was no guarantee that the crack wouldn’t reappear weeks or months later."
Refixing the entire ceiling would be expensive, and plastering over the crack would be a band-aid solution at best; and still be visible to potential purchasers. Overall, it was a very bad look for a new home – sending buyers the message that the property would have lots of problems.
"We really didn't know what to do," Tim explained. "Whatever solution we came up with was uncertain and expensive."
Or, at least, it was until Tim's wife saw one of our blog posts about how a Pennsylvania couple had used one of our faux wood beams to cover a reoccurring crack in their ceiling.
"We realized then that a single beam across that part of the ceiling would look pretty cool; and also cover the crack entirely."
Better than that, if the crack widened or expanded, the width of the beam would still cover it up; giving the appearance of a single, seamless drywall ceiling.
"So for less than the cost of dry walling and plastering the entire ceiling, we purchased one of your ceiling beams and installed it with mounting blocks and screws. The whole process took less than two hours, and the results were amazing."
In less than a day, Tim and his wife had covered the crack in the ceiling; and for potential purchasers looking at their home, they'd have no idea that the beam hadn't been there all along.
Get The Look with Faux Wood Beams
Other examples of using faux wood beams:
Are you excited about covering cracks in your home's ceiling using faux beams? Take a look at our faux ceiling beams for an affordable and stylish fix.